Pilėnų paminėjimas 2015 Žemaitiškas meškos šokis (Samogitian Bear Dance) Meškutė
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- čas přidán 22. 02. 2015
- Vyrai šoka tradicinį žemaičių liaudies šokį "Meškutė" and Bilionių piliakalnio per Pilėnų didvyrių žūties paminėjimą 2015 02 22 Dalis vyrų apsirengę rekonstruotais 10-11 amžių baltų genčių drabužiais, toliau matosi žemaitukų veislės žirgai.
Traditional Samogitian dance where men try to impersonate bears singing: "We're dancing, we're dancing the dear bear! The bear is dancing - its fur is shedding, should it not dance - its fur wouldn't shed! Uh-uh-uh-uh...". The bear is considered a totemic animal of Samogitia, it already featured on the 14th century Samogitian coat of arms when Samogitians together with Lithuanians had to resist the attacking crusaders. The bear, perhaps, symbolizes the temperament of Samogitian people the best: stern, strong & resilient.
Some of the men are wearing reconstructed 10th - 11th century Baltic costumes.
Dainos žodžiai:
Šokam, šokam mes meškutę!
Meška šoka, kudlos dulka,
Kad nešoktų - nedulkėt'!
Ū-ū-ū-ū ū-ū-ū-ū...
Labai geras šokis!
Wonderful! I am studying Northern European Bear Dances!
Kari Tauring That sounds very interesting, maybe you could share the links to other bear dances that you've come upon?
What was the date of this dance, was it on an old Baltic holiday? Does it commemorate an event or a person? Was it recreated or remembered by an organization or society? More information would be helpful, thanks.
This was a commemoration of the Burning of Pilėnai castle in 1336. Attacked by a large Teutonic Order force, the castle defenders, commanded by Duke Margiris, tried in vain to organize a defence against the larger and stronger invader. Losing hope, the defenders decided to burn their property and commit mass suicide to deprive the Order from prisoners and loot (cf. scorched earth). This dramatic episode from the Lithuanian Crusade has caught the public imagination, inspired many works of fiction, and became a symbol of Lithuanian struggles and resistance.
Such commemorations are organised yearly on Bilioniai hillfort in Šilalė district by Directorate of Varniai Regional Park, Bilionys' Eldership and Samogitian Culture Society. The video was filmed in 2015
@@Balticfolk Thank you for this information, it is very useful. Please do more videos about Baltic culture and history, thanks again.
Hardcore.
+Jan Tilli Irony?
+Baltic folk It was a bit surprising for me when I foundout that there actually are bears in Lithuania. In Finland bears hide in the north/east directions, there are hardly any wolves or bears in the south. So I logically presumed once you get to Lithuania, there would be none. But sometimes logic fails/Life's full of surprises.
Once I was going about on forest road, when I saw a note attached to a tree: Somebody had seen a bear on that very road, and put the date and time when this had happened on the note. I noticed it was the very day I was reading this, and only few hours earlier.
I was like fuck this shit! Enough with the bears! Kill 'Em All!
+Jan Tilli oh... there *used to be* bears in Lithuania but the last one was shot in Southernmost Lithuania at the end of 19th century close to where I live. Now they occasionally visit borderland areas from Latvia & Belarus (so, North & East here too...) but they don't live here permanently. But since the country is becoming increasingly forested as less and less people preoccupy themselves with agriculture, bears might return in the near future!
In North-West Lithuania whence this song-dance comes from the bears became extinct earlier but that tells us something about the song's age. It's definitely not a creation of 20th century :)
+Baltic folk You sound almost excited about this idea of bears re-occupying your country. That's horrible! Remember: safety first. I bet you are only saying this because you are some pussified snake-hugger ;) If it was up to me, all bears would be shot on the spot. Grr... ;)
I figured bears must have occupied old Lithuania. My idea about bears living in Lithuania today, came from these links:
www.listofcountriesoftheworld.com/lh-animals.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mammals_of_Lithuania#Order:_Carnivora_.28carnivorans.29
Later I found this: www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.2192/URSUS-D-12-00016.1?journalCode=ursu
So I figured a occasional bear sounds more reasonable.
+Jan Tilli You sound boringly Neolithic.
Your insult is offensive on so many levels. Have you got something against felines? This spring I happened to see a wild lynx some 20 meters away while I was walking in the woods alone. Later in the autumn I also saw fresh wolf footprints on a forest road where I was cycling. Beasts don't attack people unless threatened. It's best to walk in the forest while singing out loud - this way they can hear you approaching and have enough time to retreat without encountering you face to face. The prospect of having one more awesome neighbour does sound quite exciting. I don't believe they would do more harm to the local fauna than the already existing predators with shotguns do :P
Dievinu
On first viewing, I was certain they were trying to fool the gullible tourists. The wording just sounds so ... phoney. It could be the translation; some things don't carry over from one culture to another very well.
There were no tourists in that event, only local Samogitians and some other Lithuanians. And they didn't know in advance that I would be filming (I just filmed with my phone, there were no professional cameras around) they didn't even know who exactly I was or that I would upload it to the internet. So, all in all it was prety much just a really small festivity they did for themselves to have fun the way their ancestors did :)
Baltic diminutive word forms do sound really odd when translated to English, not quite so in Lithuanian though :)
Any other proof that they were living in harmony most of the time with the Motherland? The bear has awaken little wolves!!!!!!!
I'm afraid I didn't entirely understand your question, can you clarify what do you mean?